Equity markets in Toronto fought their way onto the plus side by Tuesday’s closing bell, thanks largely to advances in gold and energy issues, as tech also provided muscle.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index advanced 9.57 points to end Tuesday’s session at 16,357.55
The Canadian dollar nicked up 0.2 cents at 80.50 cents U.S.
Goldcorp leaped 38 cents, or 2.1%, to $18.35, while Barrick Gold advanced 41 cents, or 2.3%, to $18.45
Among energy concerns, Suncor heightened 40 cents to $46.79, while Imperial Oil gained 52 cents, or 1.3%, to $40.52.
Among tech companies, BlackBerry picked up 26 cents, or 1.6%, to $16.81, while Constellation Software hiked $5.18 to $793.15.
In the health-care sector, Aphria gave back 50 cents, or 2.3%, to $21.58, while Newstrike Resources reversed 31 cents, or 14.2%, to $1.88
Among telecoms, Rogers Communications dimmed 67 cents, or 1.1%, to $61.94, while TELUS dropped 52 cents, or 1.1%, to $46.40.
In the financial area, Royal Bank slid 80 cents to $107.25, while Bank of Nova Scotia dipped 25 cents to $82.10.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.34 points to 899.92
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups ended the day positive, as gold shone 1.9% brighter, while energy and information technology each gained 1.1%
The four laggards were weighed most by health-care, fading 1.1%, telecoms, off 0.8%, and financials went down 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
The NASDAQ composite closed at a record high on Tuesday after Netflix shares surged on stronger-than-expected subscriber growth.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 3.79 points from Monday’s record high to close at 26,210.81
The S&P 500 improved 6.16 points to 2,839.13
The tech-heavy NASDAQ added 52.26 points to 7,460.29. The video streaming giant said Monday after the close that total net adds reached 8.33 million, well above a StreetAccount estimate of 6.39 million. Netflix's stock surged 10%, lifting the company's market cap above $100
billion for the first time.
Equities are off to a strong start for the year, with the three major indexes rising at least 6% in January. Stocks are building on the strong gains made in 2017.
Dow components Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and Travelers Cos. all reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue on Tuesday. Verizon, another Dow component, posted a profit that missed expectations, while sales surpassed analyst estimates.
Elsewhere, shares of Whirlpool jumped 3.2% after Trump approved a 20% tariff on the first 1.2 million imported large residential washing machines in the first year and a 50% tariff on machines above that number.
The calendar fourth-quarter earnings season is off to a good start. As of Tuesday, 76% of the S&P 500 companies that had reported surpassed earnings expectations, while 84% of those companies had beaten sales projections.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note jumped, lowering yields to 2.62% from Monday’s 2.66%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.18 a barrel to $64.75 U.S.
Gold prices advanced $8.80 to $1,340.70 U.S. an ounce.
